Final 8 Championships: Royal Aces whitewash Bayelsa Blue Whales
Final 8 Championships: Royal Aces whitewash Bayelsa Blue Whales
The second round of matches at the ongoing Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball National Final 8 on Friday saw Royal Aces of Abuja whitewash Bayelsa Blue Whales, 69-27.
The Voice Media Trust (VMT NEWS) reports that the game saw a very dominant performance from Royal Aces, having lost their first game to First Bank of Lagos.
They rose to an early lead of 19-6 in the first quarter, dominating ball play and unleashing accurate passes to break down the defence formation of Bayelsa Blue Whales.
They kept the momentum and took the second quarter, 20-14, and became more aggressive though the Bayelsa Blue Whales tried to rally back into the game.
Royal Aces star player and team leader, Ruth Udeyin, was on a superlative performance as she led the defensive and offensive ball play to cast a commanding control of the game.
Royal Aces took the third quarter and fourth quarter 15-3 and 15-4 respectively, by playing with more aggression and causing their opponent make a lot of unforced errors.
Bayelsa could not cope with the pressure and looked very depleted and unfortunately, were a far cry from their opening game perfromance where they confidently claimed.
In his reactions, Tony Nelson, the Head Coach of Bayelsa Blue Whales, told NAN that he was not disappointed in spite his team losing.
“We did not play well today and were totally overrun by Royal Aces.
“We have to take it as a good lesson and try to bounce back from the loss.
“We also have to keep encouraging the girls; some of them are very young and need a lot of encouragement and not to chastise them,”Nelson said
Similarly, Abigail Isaiah, the Captain of Bayelsa Blue Whales, said the team had a bad day and were still confident of bouncing out of the loss.
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The team Captain of Royal Aces, Rug Udeyin, told NAN that the team had to wake up from their slumber having lost their first game to First Bank.
She said they were determined to get a victory and were not concerned about who their opponents were, and played with a lot of team work and cohesion.
“This is a very good perfromance from us.
“We are delighted about the result. We wanted to win with a high margin and we did just that,” Udeyin said.
In a related event, First Bank Basketball Club of Lagos spanked Titans Basketball Club of Abuja 70-45, to record their second win and top the group.
The Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball Final 8 Championships is competed among the top teams that qualify from the Savannah and Atlantic Conferences.
The competition is holding at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium Lagos.
it is organised by the Nigeria Basketball Federation to crown national champions for the year.
